European Parliament team to visit Bangladesh Sept 16-18 to assess human rights

A delegation of European Parliament members will be visiting Bangladesh from September 16 to 18 to assess the reforms and human rights.

The five-member delegation include Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA, FR), Human Rights Subcommittee Chair; Isabel Wiseler-Lima (EPP, Luxembourg); Arkadiusz Mularczyk (ECR, PL); Urmas Paet (Renew Europe, Estonia) and Catarina Vieira (The Greens/EFA, The Netherlands), according to a statement of the EU mission in Dhaka.

The delegation members will meet with the representatives of the interim government and civil society to discuss the human rights dimension of EU-Bangladesh relations and will visit the Rohingya refugee camps.

They will also hold meetings with the representatives of non-governmental organisations, labour representatives and representatives of multilateral organisations operating on the ground.

Since the violent crackdown on the mass protest movement of 2024 and the subsequent downfall of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is undergoing a period of political transition under an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The interim authorities launched a reform process including the country's electoral system, judiciary and other key institutions. EU and Bangladesh have furthermore resumed negotiations on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), said the statement issued today.

The delegation, against this backdrop, will aim at learning more about the work of the interim government in promoting good governance and advancing human rights, including international labour standards, and to discuss the EU-Bangladesh partnership in these areas.